Bipartisanship in Washington has eroded, said former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., on Wednesday, who pointed a finger at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for taking on a “harshness on him now that’s ugly.”
“Over on the Left, you know, you’ve got — I’m surprised that Chuck Schumer, and I say this because I like the guy, and we worked together,” Simpson said on CNN, adding that they worked together on immigration and Schumer “saved” him once.
However today, Simpson said he sees “a harshness on him now that’s ugly.”
He continued: “That’s not appropriate, and — and if he’s going to be ugly, you can bet [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] Mcconnell will be ugly and so we’re right back where we were with Harry Reid and McConnell, both of them batting around like a couple of prize fighters, and where will the country go, and [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi knocking this one and this one going this way and [House Speaker Paul] Ryan.”
Referring back to his nearly 20 years in the Senate that ended in 1997, Simpson said, “the coin of the realm when I was there was trust, and the coin of the realm is severely tarnished.”
When he was a lawmaker, Simpson said he would make deal with Democrats like Ted Kennedy, regardless of how much he liked or disliked them. In politics today the lack of trust is so prevelant that there is a lack of it among people who are part of the same party, Simpson said.
His critique also addressed some Republicans. Simpson pointed to a member of the House Freedom Caucus, Texas Rep. Ted Poe, who quit after the failed vote on the Republican healthcare bill.
Simpson quipped that certain members of the Freedom Caucus “rigid as a fireplace poker but without the occasional warmth.”
So rigid that, “you could get up next to them and they have B.O., heartburn and gas and they are 100 percenters,” he said. He later suggested that all politicians are “jerks.”
